


Krest | A Star Wars Story

by SwingWatchaGot



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Brotherhood, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Suspense, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24258556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwingWatchaGot/pseuds/SwingWatchaGot
Summary: Captain Krest was the perfect soldier. He did his duty well and always made sure he got the job done and never faltered.  He led his men with distinction and grew accustomed to fighting without the guidance of a Jedi General by his side. However, as the Clone Wars intensify, his battalion is suddenly placed under the command of a Jedi Master Linorra Skitarr. Krest faces his past battles and life with a new General as he and his men follow her onto the battlefield
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

This story has been in the works ever since I was six years old, watching the Clone Wars movie for the first time. I rushed home after the movie and started a word doc and began typing a story of a massive galactic war full of Clones and Droids and righteous lightsaber-wielding Jedi fighting for the fate of the galaxy. With the final episode of The Clone Wars, I decided to go through my old docs and dig this relic from its resting place. I wanted to create a tribute to the series that shaped my childhood and inspired me to become the writer I am today and to the starry-eyed kid in the theater shoving popcorn in his mouth and cheered as he watched Obi-Wan and the Clones fight off the droids on Christophsis.

This is my Star Wars story...


	2. Chapter 1: The Crystal Planet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Krest and the 76th Battalion brave an assault on the Capital of Christophsis as Generals Kenobi and Skywalker retreat from their positions.

" Anything that can go wrong will." 

-"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Season 3: Episode: 9

____________________________________________________________

Captain Krest stood silently, gazing out upon the blue crystalline buildings that lined the nighttime skyline of Christophsis. The night however concealed most of their beauty turning the glistening blue structures to looming, dark, sentinels watching over Krest and his men. His eyes then drew to a line of artillery guns, heavy cannon emplacements, tanks, and troops dug in just outside of the capital city of Christophsis. A smile stretched across his face as a sense of pride washed over him. Krest knew that surrounding the city were defenses identical to these. He set them up himself so he was confident that they would withstand anything thrown at them. Suddenly his holo-projector beeped. Krest retrieved it from his belt and turned it on, revealing a blue holographic image of General Obi-Wan Kenobi.

"General Kenobi, is there a problem on the front?" Krest greeted.

"Indeed there is, a turncoat in our midst has destroyed our weapons depot along with most of our heavy weaponry and armor we were forced to retreat and are headed to your position!" Kenobi shouted over the roar of gunship engines.

"A turncoat?" Krest asked. He was instantly shocked by the news. No Clone would betray the Republic, let alone a Jedi. "Who could have turned on the Republic?"

"It seems that one of our own troopers has sold us out to the enemy." Kenobi continued. "Before he was captured he destroyed our depot and most of the heavy weapons so we're falling back to the capital. We need to hold the line there or we lose Christophsis."

"My defenses are airtight General! we'll be ready for them." Krest said proudly.

"Good to hear it, Captain, we'll meet you when we arrive," Kenobi replied before the communication cut out. Krest promptly grabbed his helmet and ran over into the next room where several other troopers were lounging around.

"Good soldiers follow orders, Shaman," said Ct-2222 better known by his clone brothers as "Deuce". He shared the same face as his brothers save for the goatee that he kept well-groomed. He was the first to charge into a fight and always loved teasing Shaman due to the amount of times Shaman has had to patch him up.

"Is that what you think? Or is that what you were made to think?" grinned Shaman, as he tapped a gloved finger against his temple. Ct-1245 or "Shaman" was one of the medics assigned to the 76th. To distinguish himself Shaman cut the sides of his hair and tattooed the words "Take care of your medic and he'll take care of you." on his neck.

"I think all that time you spent with that old geezer stirred your brains the wrong way." scoffed Deuce. "It's what I think alright!"

Krest entered the room and cleared his throat.

"Attention! Officer on deck!" ordered Shaman as every trooper in the room dropped what they were doing and stood at attention.

"Listen up, Generals Kenobi and Skywalker are headed this way. They've been overrun and are falling back to our position and behind them is an entire separatist assault force." Krest said sternly. "We don't have long before they get here so I want everyone suited up and locked in!"

"If I may Captain," Ct-1735 interjected. Ct-1735 or "Fodder" as he was called by his brothers was one of the new 'shinies' that was transferred into the 76th. He was often teased by the older troopers for being more naive and overall being new. He got the nickname "Fodder" because the others often joked about him only being good as cannon fodder. "If our boys in blue couldn't hold back the Seppies then who's to say we won't be pushed back too?"

"Ah, shut up Fodder!" whined Deuce. "We'll be fine, the Seppies won't know what hit them! Ain't no clanker getting' through our lines."

"That's right! We're the 76th! Sieges and Impenetrable defenses are our specialty." said Ct-6693 or "Shellshock" as his brothers called him. Shellshock had the large numbers "76" tattooed on the right side of his face in aurebesh. The name Shellshock comes from his affinity for artillery, and heavy cannons over infantry. "Once those beautiful cannons start poundin' they'll be nothing but scrap metal."

"So what's the play Skipper?" said Shaman slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Shellshock take Shiny over here and start getting those heavy cannons ready," Krest ordered.

"Yes, sir! C'mon rookie!" Shellshock put on his helmet and shoved the Fodder towards the door.

Krest then turned to Shaman and Deuce. "Shaman I need you in the backline, providing medical and making sure the wounded get to safety."

"Sir!" Shaman nodded, grabbing his gear and sprinting out of the room.

Suddenly the building shook as an explosion roared in the distance, then again causing the troopers to stumble.

"What's my job sir?" Deuce said, steadying himself.

"Get the rest of the boys up and ready for battle," Krest said.

Deuce nodded and sprinted off towards the barracks. Krest switched his helmet communicator on and ran to the nearest elevator, taking it to the ground level.

"Sergeant, status report!" Krest shouted into his comm as the elevator made its way down.

"The Separatists are launching a full-frontal assault against the city!" shouted Sergeant Jamun. "The defenses our holding but there's gotta be a billion clankers marching towards us!"

"Sergeant! Have Generals Kenobi or Skywalker arrived?" another explosion shook the building as the elevator doors opened to the lobby. Troopers were scrambling in all directions trying to get to their stations. Krest drew both of his twin blaster pistols and ran towards the ensuing battle outside.

Jamun's voice came over his helmet comms. He could barely be heard by the familiar roar of cannons and blaster fire. "Neither General Kenobi or Skywalker have been spotted!"

"Scrag!" Krest cursed to himself as he sprinted toward the defensive lines just over 400 yards away from the building he was in. he glanced back to see large portions of the building he was just in scorched black with carbon scoring. If the buildings here were starting to take shots then that meant that the Separatists were closer than he anticipated. Krest kept sprinting until he found Shellshock crouched behind a piece of debris, changing out the gas cartridge on his Z-6 rotary cannon.

"Hey, Captain!" Shellshock greeted as he clicked the cartridge into place. "Fine situation we got here 'eh?"

Krest knelt down next to him, "Where's the Shiny?!"

Shellshock turned his helmet away taking a moment to think before turning it back to Krest. "I left him with the artillery crews! He should still be there!"

"He's your responsibility!" Krest scolded him, "Go get him and meet me at the line!"

"Fine!" Shellshock groaned, getting up he took stance and unleashed a volley from his Z-6 before nodding to Krest and running off for the artillery guns.

Krest made his way past the tanks and to the front where a line of entrenched troopers were dug in desperately trying to hold back the Separatist assault. Krest returned fire with his blaster pistols until he was knocked off of his feet by a nearby blast. Krest stood back up shakily, but quickly recovering as blaster bolts whizzed by his head. Suddenly Jormun's voice came over his helmet comms. "Droids have broken through the east flank! I repeat! Droids have broken through the -ACK!"

"Sergeant! Sergeant!" Krest called over the comms but received no answer. Krest took cover behind one of the tank's large feet. Their numbers seemed endless. Rows and rows of droids marching towards them as far as the eye can see. Every droid they blasted had dozens more behind them to fill in the gaps. Following them were columns of tanks that were in range of the city and were already raining fire upon the city. But, despite the odds Krest and his men had to hold the line. If they failed Christophsis fell to the Separatists and they all died.

"I want all cannons to focus on those tank columns!" Krest shouted into his wrist comm.

Every artillery gun and tank focused their sights on the large columns of tanks in formation marching on the capital and began opening fire. Sending blast after blast down upon them. Krest could already see the columns of smoke rising from the wrecks. Krest then realized that most of the troopers around him had been shot down and he was standing in the front by himself with only a lone tank for support. Krest switched his comm so that his men could hear him, "Everyone fall back to secondary positions! I repeat, everyone fall back to second positions!"

Krest contacted his sergeants and began coordinating his resources. Krest had an affinity for defensive warfare and often spent his time in his barracks drawing up and updating defense plans and layouts so he could best utilize his resources. He also prided himself in the art of the siege, whenever the Republic needed a large Separatist base softened up he was usually on the job. Feeling himself slipping into his element he began ordering his men into position. "I want any available gunships placed into defensive positions along the second line, get heavy cannons in each one. I want all remaining tanks to back up to safe distances from their long-range rockets. We need to bottleneck them into the main road leading into the city. I want heavy cannons up in the towers so we can keep them in a crossfire. Keep the artillery on those tanks. I want every trooper dug in just beyond the tanks. If we keep our fire focused on the main road they won't get past."

"Aye-aye Captain!" came one of the Lieutenants

"Copy that, tanks are moving into position," chimed another.

"Consider it done Captain!" came another voice

"It seems you're doing rather well on this front." came Kenobi's voice.

"General, glad to see you've made it," Krest said breathing a sigh of relief. "Though we almost lost you."

"Not yet Captain, not yet. We've been trying to make a landing there's a lot of flak coming from the tank columns!"

Krest looked up and noticed several gunships in evasive maneuvers as tank rounds burst in the air all around them.

"I'm on it General!" Krest then switched his comm over to the tankers channel, "AT-TEs six-one-nine, four-three-three, and five-eight-nine focus fire on mark three-seven!"

Ahead of him three tanks shifted their main guns upward and began firing. "General Kenobi, the tanks are down, you are cleared for landing!"

"Affirmative Captain, We're touching down."

Krest broke into a full sprint, running past his men towards the landing zone. He arrived just in time to meet General's Kenobi and Skywalker exiting their gunships, accompanied by what was left of their forces-many of them were too injured to fight and had to be put on stretchers. Shaman and two other medics came running up to them and began tending their wounds. General Kenobi was helped over to a crate by General Skywalker. They both looked like they had taken a beating as they both looked up at him with weary eyes as he approached.

"Captain what's the situation here?" asked General Skywalker.

"The droids hit us with a full-frontal assault, we've had to fall back to secondary positions but we're holding. Our artillery has managed to wipe out the first wave of tanks and if Loathsom keeps up his usual tactics he should be pulling back once his main tank columns are wiped out."

"LOOK OUT!" cried one of the troopers nearby and they all looked up to see a droid rocket headed straight for them. Without hesitation Krest pushed Skywalker and Kenobi into a gunship and closed the doors just before the rocket touched down and detonated.


	3. Chapter 2: The New Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the battle on Christophsis rages on Jedi Master Linorra Skitarr receives new orders under the Jedi Council.

_"When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice."_

_-"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Season 4: Episode: 1_  
____________________________________________________________

Linorra carefully climbed down the trunk of the massive tree she'd been using as an observation post.; her feet barely making a sound as she landed. Checking her watch, Linorra deduced it would be dark soon, which meant she and her team would have to return to base soon to avoid the 'extra-friendly' creatures that came out at night.

"It's starting to hit dusk. We oughta get moving." Linorra said into her wrist comm.

No answer.

"Trooper, do you copy? We need to get back to base!" Linora said more sternly into her comm.

Again, no answer. Linorra was now worried and confused. Did they turn off their comms? There was no reason for any of the men to switch off their comms; even on recon ops. Suddenly she sensed it, something was wrong. Scanning her surroundings, she clutched her lightsaber, her eyes darting every which way, looking for something or someone. It wasn't until she turned around did she realize what was wrong. She stood rigid with her lightsaber in her hand. She tried to ignite it, but her thumb didn't even twitch. Her breathing grew shallow and ice seeped into her veins She desperately tried to move but her feet remained planted in the soil. A wave of darkness washed over her, an overwhelming sense of fear and pain. Something terrible was happening and she couldn't figure out what. Her ears suddenly picked up the faint cracking of a twig nearby. Finally her muscles reacted and she ignited her lightsaber. Her eyes scanned the surrounding fauna but the dwindling sunlight only served to cast shadows that concealed everything. Then all she heard was a click and the blast of a rifle.

Linorra jolted awake, trembling furiously. She was covered in sweat and her hands frantically searched her torso for blaster wounds. She swallowed hard and sat up from her bedl. Her trembling hands grasped her lightsaber for some form of comfort. She closed her eyes and began reciting an old chant that her master taught her when she was a young padawan, back before the war.

"I am one with the force, and the force is with me..."

"I am one with the force and the force is with me..."

"I am one with the force and the force is with me..."

"I am one with the force and the force is with me..."

"I am one with the force and the force is with me..."

Her shoulders relaxed a little as she let herself reach out into the force. She opened her eyes and got up. Realizing she was too shaken up to go back to sleep, she put on her boots and went outside. It was dusk and the sun was just starting to creep out from under the horizon illuminating the forests that surrounded them. Linorra watched the sunrise until she was interrupted by an abrupt message on her holo-communicator. She turned it on and a blue projection of a clone appeared.

"Trooper, what is it?" Linorra answered in a shaky voice.

"You have an urgent transmission from General Windu in the command center." said the trooper.

"I'll be there shortly," Linorra said. The trooper nodded and the hologram ended. Linorra went back into her tent and threw on her robe.

As she entered the command center she saw the blue holographic image of Master Windu and Master Yoda on the holoprojector.

"Master Yoda, Master Windu, what a pleasant surprise." Linorra greeted bowing to the Jedi Masters.

"Likewise, Master Skitarr." replied Master Yoda with a slight bow.

"You'll be glad to hear that the Separatist forces have been routed in this sector and are in full retreat," Linorra stated proudly.

"Hmmm, good news that is. But, not why we contacted you, it is not." Master Yoda explained in his usual reversed way of speaking.

"I see," Linorra nodded, linking her hands behind her back. "Then what is the purpose of this communication?"

"You are being reassigned to Christophsis," Windu stated plainly.

Linorra looked up in confusion, "But aren't Kenobi and Skywalker already leading that campaign?"

"Indeed, but a battalion down there is in need of a General. The council believes you to be the best candidate to lead them." Master Windu continued. "Master Unduli and padawan Offee will keep command of the 41st while you take command of the 76th on Christophsis."

Linorra nodded in agreement. "I will ship out as soon as the transport is ready."

"May the force be with you, Master Skitarr." Master Windu said before the communication cut out.

"And with you Masters." Linorra sighed and left the command center. She was immediately met with a trooper who saluted her.

"General your shuttle is prepped and ready for departure." stated the trooper. "All your possessions have already been packed and are onboard."

"Uh, thank you trooper," Linorra said nervously. She might've been a Jedi but she was still reserved about people rummaging through the little possessions she had. But she knew that the men were only doing their jobs and she let it slide. "Is General Unduli back from her mission?"

The trooper shook his head, "Sorry General, she's still out in the field."

"Alright, give her my farewell." She nodded. "Whenever she is back of course."

The trooper nodded, "Consider it done madam!" and walked off.

Linorra made her way to the shuttle and took a seat as one of the shuttle pilots dropped down to the cargo bay and turned his seat around. "Welcome General, it'll be a sizable trip so make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you, pilot, I trust we'll arrive safely?" Linorra questioned.

Without missing a beat the pilot nodded and said, "Me and Jumper have never lost a shuttle before and we don't plan on starting now General."

Linorra nodded in satisfaction as the pilot shifted his seat back into the cockpit. The cargo bay door closed and the shuttle lifted off. As the low hum of the engines filled the cargo bay, Linorra began pondering on her new assignment. She'd led clones before but always as part of a team with Master Unduli or in the earlier days with Master Koth. But this was her first time leading an entire battalion on her own. Her thoughts then wandered to whoever would be her new second in command. Clones were all the same genetic copy of Jango Fett but each one had different personalities, especially clone officers. Would her new second be accepting of a new General? Like Master Windu said: this battalion had fought the entirety of their service without a commander. Maybe the situation in Christophsis has gotten so bad that another General is needed? Her head filled with questions, questions that she ultimately settled; would be answered once she arrived."

____________________________________________________________

"Droids are falling back!..."

"I've lost contact with the captain!..."

"Anyone have eyes on the -OOF!"

"Droids are routing at sector five-ACK!"

"MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!"

"Anyone have eyes on the Captain?"

Krest's eyes opened slowly, the overlapping chatter of clones on his comm filling his ears. His entire body ached and his left eye wouldn't open. He reached up to his face and felt bandaged covering his left eye. The vision in his right eye was blurred but he managed to make two figures approaching him.

"You're still breathin' ya piece of rankweed!" came Shaman's voice. He let out a triumphant chuckle as Krest saw the figure crouch down next to him. The figure reached for Krest's neck and he suddenly felt a sharp sting in his neck. "That should ease the pain."

Krest blinked a few times as his vision cleared revealing Shaman and Deuce's dirty and battered helmets, "What...what, what happened?"

"Droid rocket hit the tarmac; pretty ugly." Deuce said helping Krest up to his feet., "Generals Kenobi and Skywalker have rounded up the men and are routing the clankers as we speak."

"What happened here?" Krest pointed to the bandages over his eye.

Deuce and Shaman looked at each other before looking back to Krest.

"Piece of shrapnel went straight through your helmet, slicing your eye up pretty bad." Shaman explained. "Damn, miracle it didn't go any further." Shaman handed Krest his damaged helmet so he could examine the damage for himself and Indeed there was a large gash in the front where shrapnel had pierced through. Their attention was suddenly shifted to an arriving shuttle in the distance.

"Supplies?" Shaman queried.

"Probably just some stuff for the command center," Deuce said, resting his DC-15 on his shoulder

"Whatever it is we probably need it." Krest signed. "Let's see what we got."

The three troopers watched as the shuttle landed amongst the wreckage and the cargo door opened to reveal a lone Jedi.

"Talk about anti-climactic." Shaman crossed his arms.

"Is that General Unduli?" Deuce asked."

The Jedi stepped off the shuttle and approached the three men. "While I am a Mirialan I am not master Unduli, I'm Master Skitarr and I've been assigned as your new general."


	4. Chapter 3: The General: Part 1

Krest blinked his one good eye in confusion and shook his head. "Madam I think you need to double-check your records, there has to be a mistake."

"This one's all you, Skipper." said Shaman. He patted Krest on the shoulder and turned to leave with Deuce following close behind.

Linorra stepped down from the Shuttle and approached Krest, bowing to him. "I assume you are the officer in charge of this battalion? Commander-?"

Krest shook his head. "Captain, actually. I never got promoted to commander. Captain Krest of the 76th defense corps."

"Well it's good to make your acquaintance, Capta-"

"Skipper! You're needed at the command center!" Shaman cut in.

The pair turned to see Shaman running up to them. "General's Kenobi and Skywalker are already there waiting."

Shaman then turned his helmet to look at Linorra, "I guess that means you too General."

Linorra nodded and they all made their way to the command center. As they walked, Linorra began to see the true scope of what had been going down on Christophsis. Dead and wounded troopers laid about amongst the rubble. Artillery guns and tanks sat in smoking heaps of twisted metal and carbon scoring. Linorra hadn't seen destruction like this ever before. She had trained as a consular deep within the jungles of a distant planet that had no name. Only when she was assigned to Master Unduli did she begin to see some military action. But, only then was it small skirmishes and engagements nothing at all like what she saw here on Christophsis.

As they entered the command center Krest felt all eyes draw to them. Generals Kenobi and Skywalker as well as Captain Rex and Commander Cody.

"Captain, good to see you could join us." smiled General Kenobi, "Likewise to you too Master Skitarr, I had no Idea you were coming here."

Linorra bowed, "I just arrived not too long ago. I've been reassigned to Captain Krest and the 76th."

"Well, now that everyone's here we can begin the briefing." announced Cody as he turned on the holotable. A holographic display of the capital flickered into view as well as icons marking troopers and heavy armor. "We brought what we could from our position after we were attacked. Unfortunately by the time we got here the capital's defenses were already breached. General Skitarr I think it's time we filled you in. A turncoat sold us out to the Separatists which is why they were able to punch through our defenses using long-range missiles; they took out our artillery and used that to get through our defenses. A few even managed to reach here at the command center."

"This means that our defensive capabilities are greatly reduced. A small handful of artillery cannons is all we can scrounge up." Krest cut in. "Now that the enemy has pulled back we can secure the only bridge leading into the city. We can set up our remaining cannons here at the start of the bridge, using the rubble for cover so we can protect them from any enemy fire. Then we set up a firing line here, it'll be the last line of defense for the cannons. General Kenobi and his men will hold the line. As for General Skywalker, I suggest you alongside Rex and a team of troopers flank around and hold position along the rooftops here until the Octuptarra droids are directly under them and they can take them down."

"Sounds fun," Skywalker smiled.

"I can round up some of the boys and grab some jetpacks." Rex nodded in agreement.

"Me and Cody will hold the line, just make sure you and Rex are back in time." Kenobi chimed in.

"And the long range missiles?" Linorra interjected.

"I propose I take a team of men behind enemy lines, and destroy their shipments of missiles. By the time the second wave hits we won't have to worry about any missiles." Krest responded promptly.

"I'll accompany you and your team then Captain." Linorra nodded.

"We'll take all the help we can get General."

"Then it's settled, we'll set up our defenses and await their attack." Cody announced, turning off the holotable.


	5. Chapter 4: The General: Part 2

"So Captain, how come your battalion was never under the command of a general?" General Skitarr asked as she and Krest walked to the armory where their team was already prepping.

"We had one once. During the battle of Geonosis we were put under the command of General Jorterl Yarrick but...his gunship was shot down before we could rendezvous. After the battle, we were loaded up onto a cruiser and shipped here." Krest explained.

"And Master Jorterl?" General Skittar asked, her eyes staring ahead down the long corridor leading to the armory

"They never recovered his body." Krest looked at the ground solemnly, "We never got to meet him, so to us..we've never had a general."

As they entered the armory Shaman, Deuce, Shellshock, and Fodder looked up from their gear up at Krest and Linorra.

"General, I think it's time for a proper introduction," Krest said motioning to the troopers. "This is Shaman, Deuce, Fodder, and Shellshock."

Each trooper waved or nodded when their name was called.

"Cap'n I've got some of the boys from ordinance ready to go.." Shellshock chimed in, jerking his thumb to three troopers tinkering with a series of explosives. Their orange-colored armor was scuffed and scratched all over with each scratch telling a story of their previous deployments.

The three troopers stood up and saluted.

"Kree reporting as ordered sir!"

"Maro reporting as ordered sir!"

"Cawl Reporting as ordered sir!"

"Alright, troopers listen up!." Krest announced as he pulled out a holo-projector and turned it on, displaying a map of the region. "We have an important task ahead of us! Looks like the Seps are using long-range missiles to knock out our heavy artillery to make way for their troops. We got hit hard and barely made it out after their last attack so it's no surprise that our top priority is knocking out their caches of missiles before their second wave hits. If we fail the capital falls and all of Christophsis along with it. Kree, Maro, and Cawl will accompany us to help with the demolitions. We need to move quickly and effectively, in and out so pack lightly no rockets or heavy blasters. Small arms and detonators only."

"Karabast…" cursed Shellshock under his breath.

"Our scouts have reported that the missile caches are kept in a storage facility on the outskirts of a nearby city thirty clicks west of here." Krest continued. "We'll drop just outside of the walls and scale them to get inside and blow the munitions. move out in ten minutes, so I expect everyone at the tarmac in eight." Krest ordered.

The troopers all nodded and went back to preparing their gear.

"Oh! I took the liberty of getting you a new helmet while you're old one is getting repaired," said Fodder as he handed Krest a relatively new helmet with olive-green markings signifying their unit along with a lightning bolt going down the right side of the visor signifying the scar where the shrapnel went through.

"Thanks, kid." Krest nodded giving a quick but rare smile. Behind him Krest noticed the others looking at him in surprise.

"How come the new guy gets a smile?" Deuce whined.

"You'll get one when you become captain." Krest joked, maintaining a straight face.

Deuce rolled his eyes and put his helmet on and got up from his seat. "I will get you to smile one day Captain!" he announced challengingly as he walked out of the armory.

"Your men seem to have a deep sense of friendliness with you, Captain," Skitarr said in her usual formal tone.

"We're all brothers ma'am, and they trust me with their lives but I maintain a strong authority over them. I'm still their C.O." Krest explained.

The rest of the troopers began to leave as Krest and Skitarr conversed.

"I suggest you keep wary of the relationships you make with these men Captain, this is war after all and things can go awry in war." General Skitarr warded.

Her words irked him a bit but he chose to stay silent. It was no surprise having a Jedi general show a bit of disregard for their troops. There were countless stories passed around the ranks about generals like General Krell who had casualty numbers so high that most troopers thought that any clone that was sent to his battalion was either being punished or just greatly unlucky. However, Krest pushed these feelings aside and merely shrugged. "I guess that's one way to look at it." before putting his helmet on and leaving.

Skitarr stood there a moment pondering on the interactions she had with her new troops. So far there was nothing noticeable about them. As far as she was concerned they were standard troopers with unique names. Krest however was different. As soon as she landed he was somewhat opposed to her reassignment and although he tried to not show it he was wary about her. Linorra however was snapped out of her train of thought by her wrist comm beeping.

"This is General Skitarr," she answered.

"General, we're ready to go, we're waiting on you." came Krest's voice.

"I'll be there right away Captain," Skitarr replied and quickly left the armory.

When she reached the tarmac Krest, and the rest of the team were in a gunship waiting. The gunship engines hummed as she got in.

"Alright, pilot let's get moving," Skitarr called into her wrist comm.

"You heard her Astra let's head out." Krest chimed in.

"Copy that Captain, we're clear for takeoff." chirped the pilot.

The side doors of the gunship closed shut and the gunship took off towards their drop point. The entire ride everyone was silent suddenly Linorra broke the ice.

"Captain, are you sure you'll be fit for combat with your injury?" Skitarr asked worriedly. "Aren't you in pain?"

"I patched him up pretty good. I gave him some strong meds to cut the pain, he should be fine until we get back." Shaman interjected.

"Besides, we don't have any time to waste," Krest shrugged. "I'll endure the pain if I have to and if it means that those missiles will get taken care of."

"We're approaching the landing zone, lock and load boys, have fun down there." came Astra over the PA.

The gunship hovered a foot above the ground as the side doors opened and the team exited the gunship.

"Circle back around, this shouldn't take too long," Krest called out to the pilots who both flashed him a thumbs-up as the gunship lifted off. However, as the gunship was turning to leave a flash of red pierced through the cockpit, killing one of the pilots instantly and causing the gunship to spin out of control.

"WE'RE GOING DOWN! I CAN'T CONTRO-" Astra cried into his comm as the gunship smashed into a nearby building.

"We've been spotted!'' Skitarr shouted, igniting her lightsaber and getting into a defensive stance.

Soon enough battle droids began pouring out of the surrounding buildings, causing Krest and the team to seek cover. As they scattered Krest glanced back to see Maro get struck in the back by enemy laser fire.

Krest and Linorra took cover behind a piece of collapsed blue crystal.

"We've got a man down, I'm going to try and get him out of harm." Shaman said as he inched his way toward Maro before suddenly springing out of cover firing back at the incoming droids. But, just as he turned to run for Maro he was pushed back into cover by General Skitarr who used the force to push him to safety.

"GENER-"

"Don't be stupid trooper, he's already dead!" she shouted at him.

Shaman turned his helmet to look at her for a solid moment no doubt filled with anger. Even for a medic Shaman was always fiercely protective of his fellow brothers especially when under his care. Even showing a strange sense of maternal care in his own sort of way. And, as everyone in the unit knew, you never got between Shaman and his patients.

"General I thi-"

"She's right Shaman, we can get to him later but first we need to focus on the battle at hand!" Krest shouted through his comm.

"Yes sir…" growled Shaman.

Krest watched as he turned back to the droids and began firing, even increasing the ferocity of his shots. There was no doubt he was going to have to calm him down later but first, Krest needed to make sure they got out of this firefight alive.

"Take this ya bunch of scrap heaps!" cried Shellshock as he and Fodder began throwing grenades towards the horde of droids.

Taking notice, Skitarr used the force to push the grenades into the center of the droid horde. The grenades detonated in tandem, destroying most of the droids.

Krest peeked out of cover and began blasting the remaining droids as Shaman ran over to Maro who was motionless on the ground. Cawl and Kree followed close behind. Without hesitation, Shaman checked his pulse and laughed weakly, and unsettlingly.

"He's faint but he's alive. Shots went clean through, no serious internal damage." Shaman said, scanning Maro's body with a handheld x-ray scanner.

"We need to move now. We can't waste our time tending to mortally wounded clones." Skitarr said sternly. "He'll most likely die before we can get him anywhere.

Everyone stood silent as Shaman stood up and looked at General Skitarr and began walking towards her.

Krest moved in to intercept, placing a hand on Shaman's shoulder. "Look, what the General means is-"

"That clone is MY brother! OUR BROTHER!" Shaman shouted as he stood face to face with his new General who merely eyed him down with a stone-cold stare.

Krest alongside the other troopers watched as Shaman continued.

"Now, I don't know how you did things in your old unit, but here we care for our men! For as it is your duty to lead this battalion, it is my duty to care for these men when they need me most! And I will do my duty even if it means disobeying orders! I'll be damned before I let a man die on my watch, not a clone, but a man! Especially when I can do something about it! So with all due respect General, I need to finish tending to that soldier."

Without another word Shaman returned to Maro, helping him up with help from Cawl and moving him out of the open.

Krest turned to General Skitarr who was still eyeing Shaman with daggers in her eyes and tried to apologize for Shaman's outburst. "General, the kid is just protective of his patients is all, I'm certain he didn't mean to burst out like he did."

Skitarr's eyes moved to Krest and he felt a cold feeling wash over him.

"I've never seen a clone medic with as much protective instinct as this one. Is there a reason for this behavior?"

Krest sighed and nodded. "Shaman was originally part of a garrison on Felucia. During a skirmish, he was wounded. The garrison was wiped out leaving him to die out in the wilderness. He was saved after a day or so by an old Felucian medicine man. According to Shaman, the Felucian nursed him back to health and when he learned that Shaman was a medic he taught him some old medicinal practices native to the Felucians and told him to protect those in need as the medicine man did to him. Shaman was later picked up by a scouting party and taken to become part of our unit. That's where he gets his name, throughout the entire time they spent together, the Felucian called him Shaman because he was healer like him."


	6. Chapter 5: The General: Part 3

"So, what do the odds look like?" Krest asked as he crouched behind Shellshock and Deuce who were performing recon on the storage facility that housed the long-range missiles.

After Shaman's outburst, Krest managed to get General Skitarr to agree to let Shaman wait with Maro for an evac. While they waited the rest of the team made their way to the roof of a tower nearby where they currently sat planning out their attack on the storage facility.

"I'd say fifty-fifty." Deuce shrugged, not looking away from his binoculars. "Standard defenses: about a hundred clankers, maybe a handful of B2s along with some rollers."

"Stop tryna scare the Cap!" Shellshock hissed. "The real odds are up in the air, hard to tell what they got inside the warehouse, but what we know is the outside defenses are mostly B1s and some rollers. Gotta say, pretty lax security for such valuable munitions."

"He's right, there should be at least a tank or two." Deuce chimed in.

"Mhm," Shellshock nodded. "Let's hope the intel is good and the seps were just too lazy to set up better defenses."

"Let's hope." Krest nodded and left the pair to continue their reconnaissance. As he walked off he retrieved his holo-communicator and tried contacting Shaman as he took a seat alongside a wall.

The communicator chirped and a blue projection of Shaman appeared. "Skipper,"

"Everything good?" Krest asked. "You and Maro safe?"

"Don't worry about me Skipper, the gunship is almost here anyway. Get the job done, and I'll see you guys back at HQ." Shaman said.

"Alright, just sit tight, and make sure you get back safe," Krest replied.

"I'll be fine, just make sure you and the boys keep an eye out for the new general. Something's off with her."

"I think she just needs time to adjust, I'll keep an eye out though," Krest said before he was interrupted by General Skitarr's voice coming from behind him.

"An eye out for what Captain?" her voice was stone cold and held an authoritative tone he'd only seen in the hardiest of officers.

Krest turned around and stood at attention. "General! erm...I was just making sure Shaman and Maro were getting back safely. He just wanted to remind me to look out for enemy snipers is all."

Skitarr looked at him with a hint of suspicion for what seemed like an eternity to Krest as her stone-cold gaze eyed him up before gently nodding. "The medic has a point, but we need everyone to lock in Captain, especially you out of everyone, given your injury."

"Trust me, General, Shaman gave me some extra doses of painkillers to take just in case the pain gets too much. I'll be fine." Krest nodded.

"Let us hope, we're already down two clones, I'd rather not make it three," Skitarr said before turning around and joining the rest of the team.

Krest followed suit as Shellshock and Deuce joined them.

"So from what we saw, the main perimeter defenses consist mainly of B1s and a couple auto-turrets. However, we don't know what kind of surprises are hidden inside the warehouse. So far nothing has gone in and out except for a supply ship dropping off what is no doubt more missiles." Deuce explained.

"From the looks of it, the droids are readying up for the second assault so if we are going to make a move it has to be soon," Shellshock interjected.

"We'll split into teams." Krest started, "Cawl and Kree you're with me, Shellshock, Fodder, and Deuce will join General Skitarr. I think our best course of action will be to have General Skitarr attack from the main entrance and draw the enemy's attention and keep them occupied, meanwhile, I and the ordinance team will slip past the enemy defenses and get inside the warehouse. Once we're inside we'll rig the missiles to blow and get out. It should be a quick job, so long as you guys keep them occupied."

Skitarr nodded at Krest's plan. "Let's hope we can keep them occupied long enough for you to be successful. Let us hope your track record holds up Captain."

"Now hold on-"

Krest grabbed Shellshock by the arm as he turned towards Skitarr, "Woah-woah-woah-woah-woah easy there trooper, the General didn't mean it. It's only fair that we show the General that she can trust us to get the job done."

"Riiight...if you say so Cap'n. Let's get it done then." Shellshock said as he walked away.

"I'm in position General, waiting for the signal," Krest whispered into his comm. Krest and the rest of the ordinance team waited anxiously from the shadows of an alley for Skitarr and the others to make a move. Suddenly blaster fire erupted as alarms began to blare, alerting the entire facility.

"That's our cue, let's move!" Krest motioned for Cawl and Kree to follow him as he took off running towards the facility. Once they crossed the street the trio reached the facility's perimeter wall. Just as they'd planned most of the facility's defenses were focused on Skitarr and her team.

"Cables up," Cawl commented as he attached a cable pod onto his blaster. Krest and Kree followed suit and shot their cables towards the top of the wall.

"Pretty big wall here Cawl, try not to fall." Kree teased as he began scaling up the wall.

"Very funny Blasterbait." Cawl snapped back.

"Cut the chatter, we gotta get inside." Krest hissed as he scaled his way up the wall as well. The trio made their way down the other side and slipped inside the warehouse. Once they made it inside the three troopers were astonished at the sheer amount of missiles that were housed inside. Stacks of missiles were lined up in rows wall-to-wall.

"Skrag, how many missiles do the seps need?" Cawl said in awe.

"There's no way we've got enough explosives to blow all of these," Kree said, checking his backpack.

"General, we've got a problem," Krest called into his comm.

"What happened?" Linorra replied sternly with a hint of annoyance in her voice. In the background, Krest could hear shouting followed by intense blaster fire.

"The warehouse is completely full of missiles we don't have enough explosives to destroy all of these missiles," Krest explained.

"You're in a warehouse full of missiles, figure it out, and make it quick!" Skitarr barked before her comm cut out.

Krest turned to Kree and Cawl, "You two, can you rig the warheads in these things to blow? Perhaps on a timer?"

Cawl thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, why?"

"If we rig enough of these to bow won't they cause a chain reaction?" Krest asked.

"Certainly." Kree nodded.

"Alright, Cawl give me your detonators. Me and Kree will plant them onto as many stacks as we can. Cawl you rig as many stacks as you can on a timed fuse so we have time to clear out.

"You're the boss," Cawl said removing a set of tools from his backpack before tossing it to Krest. "Make'em count."

Cawl got to work rigging the missiles while Krest and Kree did the same setting up detonators on as many stacks as they could.

Suddenly Krests ear-comm beeped and Skittar's voice came through. "CAPTAIN, WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?"

"We're rigging up the missiles to blow as we speak General," Krest replied, trying his best to ease her frustration.

"MAKE IT QUICK, WE WON'T LAST LONG HERE!" Skittar barked back before her comm cut out yet again.

"Doesn't sound too good out there," Kree commented as he attached the last of his detonators onto a stack of missiles. "That's the last one. You finished there Captain?"

Krest nodded as he activated the last of his detonators. "Let's get outta here."

Cawl joined the two at their entry point and flashed thumbs-up, "Timers are set, we got five minutes."

"We better move then," Krest motioned for them to follow as he ran towards the exit.

"General, the warehouse is set to go up in less than five minutes. You need to get outta there now!"

"About time Captain, we'll rendezvous at the area where we left the medic," Linorra said with a hint of relief.

"We'll meet you ther-" Krest was suddenly tackled to the ground knocking his helmet off.

"Commando droids!" cried Cawl.

Krest threw the droid off of him and got to his feet. Sure enough, several commando droids were running at them. Krest drew one of his DC-17s and began firing at them. The droids dodged and ducked away from the blaster shots with acrobatic ease. Krest grabbed his helmet and put it back on just in time for a commando droid to drop down on him. It's vibroblade narrowly scraping against Krest's helmet as he dodged the incoming attack. The droid quickly recovered and lunged at him again.

Before Krest could react an orange boot collided with the droids head, sending it flying backward into a stack of missiles and knocking them over.

"C'mon Captain, we're getting outta here!" Kree called out.

Krest turned back towards the exit and ran for it with Cawl and Kree following close behind. However just as they exited the warehouse and reached their climbing cables the warehouse exploded in a thunderous cloud of flame, sending Krest, Cawl, and Kree flying off their feet.

Krest woke up moments later. His head was groggy and he deduced that he was pinned under something big as the only thing he could move was his right arm. There was debris and fire all around him and in the corner of his eye, Krest could see one of the ordinance troopers strewn about on the ground.

"Twice in one day huh? Some Captain." Krest groaned to himself. He activated his wrist comm and began trying to contact Skitarr.

His comm beeped repeatedly until Skitarr answered worriedly. "Captain, where are you? We waited as long as we could!"

"We got caught by some commando droids, we didn't make it out...wait...what do you mean 'as long as you could'?" Krest felt his stomach churn at her words.

"I'm...sorry Captain." Skitarr's tone changed to its usual sternness, "We couldn't wait any longer."

"What!? General no, we're alive! Send a rescue party we-"

"The enemy is already on it's way to the capital, we can't risk sparing the manpower. I'm sorry but defending the capital is a bigger priority right now-" Skitarr's voice cut out as Krest turned his comm off.

Krest sighed to himself before trying to crawl out from under whatever was pinning him down but as soon as he tried another issue arose as pain seared through his head, emanating from his eye as it began to bleed. A dark blot appeared on his visor and grew as he bled through the bandages over his eye. Before long Krest began to feel faint as the blood loss began to increase.

"This...is it," Krest whispered as he grew weaker and weaker and his eyelids grew heavy until finally they shut and he slipped into blackness.


	7. Chapter 6: The General: Part 4

"General I-"

"Silence clone! You can present your excuses to the galactic senate when you four are court-martialed for insubordination and disregard the chain of command!"

Krest awoke to general Skitarr scolding his men. He blinked his one good eye slowly as his vision focused and he quickly realized he was in the infirmary back at the capital; it also didn't take long to see that the room they were in was empty save for him, his men and general Skitarr. Suddenly his attention was drawn to Shellshock who was now raising his voice in retaliation at Skitarr.

"Insubordination or not, one thing is clear: You were completely content with leaving our CO to die, WHICH HE NEARLY DID! Our lives may not matter to you, but we're brothers and there is no way we will leave one of our own behind!"

Krest tried to sit up which quickly turned everyone's attention, prompting Shaman and Fodder to rush over to help him up.

"Skipper! You're awake," Shaman said surprised as he adjusted a pillow behind Krests back to help support him.

"Thankfully…" Krest muttered. His eyes drew to Skitarr who was standing at the foot of his bed with her arms crossed and frowning at him. "Uhm, something wrong, General?"

"Your men disobeyed my direct orders, Captain, so yes something is wrong," Skitarr said sternly. "I'm going to submit a court-martial request as soon as our communications are back up."

"Wait what! A court-martial?" Krest was shocked, why would she court-martial four perfectly good troopers? Just because they disobeyed orders to save him? No, there was no way Krest was going to let this happen, not while he still had some authority.

"Clones need to be kept in line Captain, they start going their own way, everything we fight for will fall apart!" Skitarr explained.

Krest scowled at her as he suddenly remembered the incident with Shaman and Maro. "These are MEN, not clones, MEN! I don't know what you have against us clones but whether you like it or not we are comrades and brothers in arms! As much as I try to stay out of internal affairs between my men, I will not stand idly by as you show blatant disregard for the lives of my men and treat us as lesser beings. These men risked their lives to get me back here when there was no guarantee that I was even going to be alive. So as far as I'm concerned nobody is getting court-martialed, if anything these men should be commended for their bravery in going back behind enemy lines and saving the lives of an officer."

Skitarr's eyes lit up with fury and it seemed as if she was one second away from igniting her lightsaber and striking Krest down where he lay. "How dare you question my order! I am a Jedi Knight and a General of the Grand Army of the Republic and as a General I outra-"

"The Captain is right…"

Everyone's attention snapped to the entrance to the room where Generals Kenobi and Skywalker were entering. Behind them, Captain Rex and Commander Cody followed close behind.

"What?!" Skitarr turned to Kenobi who walked up behind her and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder.

"These men risked their lives to save their Captain and should be commemorated," Kenobi stated plainly.

Skitarr's fiery attitude quickly cooled down as Kenobi consoled her. "I understand that this is your first assignment since your...incident but you need to realize that these men are not droids."

Skitarr looked as if she was ready to break down. "Master Kenobi, I-I..."

"It's okay, come, I have much to speak to you about," Kenobi stated as he led Skitarr out of the room.

"So...that's it?" Shaman said confused.

"Well...who knew getting a new general would be one of the most draining things I'd have to deal with." Deuce sighed wearily.

"Good job to all of you in getting Krest here back in one piece, as for you Captain, glad to have you back," Skywalker said before leaving the room.

"How are you holding' up?" Cody asked, dragging a crate up to Krest's bed and sitting down.

"I swear I'm cursed or something'." Krest chuckled. "First my eye and now this."

"Cursed or not, these boys got you back in one piece." Rex nodded, impressed. "Welp now you got some time to rest up. Better enjoy it."

"Lucky man, we still got jobs to do." Cody joked as he got up and walked towards the entrance. "Take care of yourself Krest, I wanna see you back in action next time we meet."

"Will do," Krest smiled, giving a quick salute to Cody and Rex who returned the salute before leaving Krest and his men alone in the infirmary. "So...what now?"

"Well like they said Cap'n, we gotta take advantage of some of this R&R while we can." Shellshock smiled triumphantly. "First bit of leave since our trip here."

"Let's just hope Kenobi gets Skitarr to shape up. Things coulda gotten ugly." Deuce said.


	8. Chapter 7: Rest and Relaxtion

Shaman

Shaman got up from his bunk with a long-drawn-out yawn. It was early in the morning according to the clock on the wall. Shaman rubbed the sleep from his eyes and went about his daily ritual of putting on the numerous plates that made up his armor and heading to the mess hall. As the doors wooshed open Shaman took notice of the lack of troopers in the mess hall. Luckily for him however the mess staff were up so he continued on over to the buffet. He placed his helmet onto a table before picking up a tray and getting in line.

"Can I get this to go?" Shaman asked.

"Sure, 'bit early for breakfast innit?" said the server behind the counter as he gave him a healthy serving of indescribable mush in a bowl and fished under the counter for a lid.

"You call this breakfast?" Shaman asked, looking at the mound concerned.

"It's all we got, we haven't gotten a resupply in a while so we gotta make due." the trooper explained. "So; early patrol duty?"

"Nah," Shaman shook his head. "I got something important I need to get done."

The server nodded with a shrug and handed Shaman the bowl. "Well, whatever you gotta do stay safe out there trooper."

"Will do, and I'll let you know if I hear anything about supply shipments. Shaman flashed a smile as he took the bowl and thanked the server before picking up his helmet and returning to his barracks.

Everyone else was still asleep as he entered the barracks so taking great care to be as quiet as possible he went to his locker and retrieved his backpack. He emptied out some of the less crucial medical supplies and packed a small wooden box and his bowl of mush into the backpack. He slung his backpack onto his shoulders and grabbed his DC-15, quietly closing his locker and putting on his helmet before leaving.

As he walked down the corridor he spotted Commander Cody scrolling through some kind of feed on a datapad as he came walking the opposite way.

"Commander!" Shaman called, causing Cody to look up from his datapad.

"Shaman, you're up early aren't you?" Cody asked, folding both hands behind his back.

"I like to get up early," Shaman shrugged. "Anyway do you have any word on the supply shipments?" I just came from the mess and they're down to serving sawdust gruel in there."

Cody looked concerned and thought to himself for a moment. "Really?"

Shaman took off his backpack and handed Cody the bowl.

Cody took the bowl and frowned with a hint of disgust. "Skrag."

"Skrag is right, I get that in wartime shipments tend to get disrupted and such but if this is the point we're at it won't be long till we're down to combat rations.

Cody handed Shaman back the bowl and nodded. "I'll see to it, thanks for letting me know."

"Of course Commander, I told the guys in the mess I'd try and help so here I am." Shaman nodded.

"Well I gotta get back to the command center, I'll see you around." Cody returned to his datapad, patting Shaman on the shoulder as he walked away.

Shaman felt a bit proud of himself as he continued on his way. As he went outside he saluted the guards in front of the entrance and continued walking. Since the second assault everyone has had a chance to catch a breath and with reinforcements finally arrived there was a hint of confidence in the air that the Separatists wouldn't come back for a while. Shaman proceeded to squeeze himself through a gap in between two large chunks of crystal and reemerged in a small space that Shaman had made his own during his time in Christophsis. In his time off he cleared most of the smaller debris and even managed to incorporate a couple of pieces of rubble as a chair and a table.

He took a seat on his makeshift chair and carefully placed his backpack onto the makeshift table alongside his helmet. He carefully removed the bowl of 'mush' and the small wooden box, opening it to reveal a pouch, and a rolled-up parchment. Shaman smiled as he unrolled the parchment to reveal a portrait of an elderly Felucian giving a warm smile.

"It's been a while," Shaman said to the portrait, carefully leaning it up against his backpack and facing it towards him. "War's been pretty rough."

Shaman removed the lid off of his bowl and opened the small pouch, taking a pinch of its contents and sprinkling it over his bowl of mush.

"Gotta say, this spice has helped me get through some horrid mess hall meals." Shaman chuckled as he spooned some of the mush into his mouth. It wasn't as bad as he thought it would've been but the spice still did most of the work of making it edible. "A lot has happened since we last had a chance to talk, hell I almost got court-martialed. I know I say this every time we talk but...thank you for all that you did to save me and for taking me under your wing. Even now I try and use all that you've taught me in helping my patients as you've helped me. I know a lot of my brothers consider our original DNA source as a father figure but to me, you're the only father I've had. I hope wherever you are you're living happily."

Shaman wiped away some tears and continued eating his breakfast until his moment of peace was interrupted by the chirping of his wrist comm. Shaman groaned in annoyance and answered the comm. "This is Shaman."

"Hey Shaman, where've you been? We've been looking all over for you! We need you in the infirmary stat!" came Bujiu one of the other medics that Shaman had worked with.

"I'm on the way." Shaman sighed looking at the portrait. "Looks like duty calls."

Shaman bowed to the portrait before rolling it back up and placing it back into the box along with the pouch of spice and putting it back into his backpack. He slung the backpack back onto his shoulders and put his helmet back on before returning to his duties.

Krest

"How're you feeling Captain?" asked a medical officer as he walked up to Krest's bed.

"Better, my eye isn't hurting as much," Krest said.

"That's good, now you still aren't cleared for combat until we can get you a cybernetic eye replacement which probably won't happen until we can get you a transport onto the cruiser. However, you're cleared to get out and start doing some menial tasks. Just nothing too hard and if you have any issues with your eye get back here stat, understand?" the officer as he read over Krest's file on a datapad.

"Wait, so I'm free to go? Just like that?" Krest asked confused.

The Officer nodded. "Yep, you were very lucky to just have the eye injury, and nothing else. All we could do here is stop the bleeding and remove the remaining bits of shrapnel from your eye. Again, we'll have to wait until we can get you a ride up to the cruiser before we can do anything further."

"Well alright doc, I guess I'm free to go," Krest said.

The Officer nodded and left Krest to his devices. Krest thought for a moment before deciding on what to spend his newfound free time on. He carefully got out of bed and stretched. According to Deuce his armor was removed and left in the armory with one of the quartermasters which made sense since Krest was still in his black body glove. Taking a moment to make sure his bandages were good, Krest exited the infirmary and made his way to the armory.

"Hey! Look who's back from the dead!" chuckled Flak the chief quartermaster on base. Even though he always wore armor around base he always insisted on having his helmet off unless absolutely necessary. He shared the standard clone appearance save for the serial number of his personal DC-15A going down his right eye and his cybernetic arm he got after accidentally blowing his left hand off during the battle of Geonosis.

"Yep, still in one piece, unlike you. One of my boys told me you've got my armor locked up in here?" Krest said as he walked into the armory. The armory was a sizable open room covered wall to wall with racks of DC-15 and DC-15A blasters, a workbench, as well as crates of blaster cartridges. At the very back of the room was a counter surrounded by a heavy-duty cage that contained some of the more deadly and specialized munitions and behind the counter was Flak in all his glory..

"Laugh all you want but the Robo-arm is wayy better than my organic one." Flak defended himself as he pulled out a chest containing Krest's armor from behind him and dropped it onto the counter. "Anyway, how you holdin' up? Heard you got pretty banged up."

"I'm doing fine now, but my chances of being a pilot got thrown away. " Krest said pointing to his bandaged eye.

Flak looked at him and laughed. "Right, I heard about what happened to you! How's it been with only one eye cyclops?"

"I managed to get through a combat mission." Krest pointed out.

"Yeah, and ya nearly died!" Flak retorted.

Flak then took Krest's old helmet from the chest and tossed it onto a table. With a clear head, Krest was now able to fully take in the extent of the damage the helmet suffered during the first assault. "We gotta talk about this helmet trooper."

"About that, talk to the Seps." Krest shrugged.

"Funny guy," Flak said, rolling his eyes. "You're lucky we got plenty to go around. So you want a new one or do you wanna work your magic on this?"

"You got stuff for me to work with.?" Krest asked, picking up his helmet and looking it over. "If so, I can get it done."

"Do I have the stuff?" Flak scoffed leading Krest over to a workbench and opening a large box mounted on the wall, revealing smithing tools. "Come on, whenever I know you'll be around I pack the tools specifically."

"Let's get to work then." Krest grinned, placing the damaged helmet onto the table. He took a moment to walk back over to his armor and proceeded to put on the bottom portion of his armor. He took the rest of his armor and placed it in a neat pile by the workbench, put on a face shield, and grabbed a torch-cutter. Before long he was once again slipping into his element, carefully cutting the damaged visor from his helmet. While Krest was gifted in defensive warfare he had a passion for armor smithing as in his eyes one of the most crucial parts that made up a proper soldier was his armor. As he finished cutting the visor out of his helmet he turned the cutter off and called out to Flak.

"I need a new visor and some plastoid!" Krest called out.

"On it!" Flak replied from behind the counter. Moments later he returned with a replacement visor and sheet of plastoid composite, the same material all clone armor was made of.

Krest cut pieces of the sheet and used a welding torch to weld the new pieces onto his helmet. Flak watched in amusement as Krest fused the new visor onto his helmet and tinkered with it until he was confident in its quality.

"I still got it." Krest grinned as he presented his helmet to Flak. The helmet looked almost good as new save for the welding scars that ran down the helmet where the replacement visor and plastoid was welded in.

"Not too shabby, almost as good as me. I might have to have you help me fix some pieces I got in the back." Flak nodded in approval.

"Now hold on, just cause I'm off-duty doesn't mean you can use me to do your job." Krest retorted looking over his helmet.

"You're loss." Flak shrugged. "So what're you gonna do now?"

Krest looked over to his armor and then back to his helmet. "Well until I get called up for surgery I guess I'll retouch the paint job on my gear."

Deuce

The air was silent, and Deuce was still as a corpse from his position in a nest high up in a bombed-out building. His eyes carefully scanned the surrounding area through the sights projected onto his visor when suddenly his eyes instinctively drew towards movement in between the buildings. He focused on the movement and confirmed that it was a separatist probe droid. Taking a deep breath Deuce then squeezed the trigger and a loud CHOOM! echoed throughout the surrounding area Deuce watched as the bolt collided with the drone but to his surprise and dismay, the bolt only grazed the top of the droid's head, still destroying the droids antennae and rendering it useless but still functioning.

"Accuracy rating doesn't meet standards," Deuce grumbled to himself as he replaced the gas cartridge on his DC-15. "Standards be damned, I just hit a probe droid from a mile away with a standard rifle."

Deuce folded up the bipod on his rifle and stood up, resting it against a wall as he stretched with a groan. Maybe tomorrow, but at least you hit it. Deuce thought to himself. As Deuce turned to leave he untied a rope which unraveled a curtain, concealing his nest from the outside, leaving his nest in darkness. Deuce rested his rifle onto his shoulder and made his way down several flights of stairs and outside where two other troopers were sitting on large pieces of rubble.

"Anything good?" said one of the troopers boredly, scooting over to make room for Deuce.

Deuce sighed and sat down next to the trooper and planted his rifle onto the ground. "Just a probe here and there, nothing too crazy."

"Did you actually land the shot this time?" asked the other trooper skeptically.

"Hey! I hit it square in its sensor!" Deuce defended himself, Jerking a thumb towards his chest. "I'm a crack shot!"

"Not according to the Master Chief!" retorted the trooper next to Deuce which drew a laugh from the other trooper.

"I don't know why I even talk to you guys," Deuce growled in frustration as he stood up and stormed off.

No matter how many times Deuce tried to convince himself that he was better off as a grunt, a realization always came crawling back to him, the realization that he was just a failed sniper and perhaps one of the worst in the entire clone army. Matter of fact he should consider himself lucky, Deuce always thought to himself. The Kaminoans could've easily just thrown him into maintenance duty with the other bad batchers. Instead, he got assigned to Krest and his company. Nothing like a sniper who couldn't shoot straight to be added to a company protecting some of the most important locations for the Republic. Jango would be ashamed.

Don't beat yourself up old boy, you're still a great soldier, you just need some practice is all-Deuce thought to himself as he walked past a group of Shinies. He hung his head low, swallowed in his own wallow until he was interrupted by one of the shinies calling over to him.

"Hey, trooper! Over here!"

Deuce turned and saw several shinies walking up to him. What Deuce wouldn't give to have his armor that clean again. "Shinies eh? Whaddya need?" Deuce sighed.

"We're looking for Captain erm, Krest?" said one of the Shinies.

"You don't sound too sure, are you even in the right place?" asked Deuce putting an extra emphasis on the annoyance and gruffness in his voice. One thing that always cheered Deuce up was messing with Shinies.

"uh-...I...I'm sure we are…" stuttered the trooper prompting Deuce to chuckle in the troopers face.

"I'm just messin' witcha rookie! Follow me." Deuce said dropping his rifle into both hands and nodding towards the main entrance to the base which was partially inside a tower.

The shinies looked at each other and shrugged before following Deuce inside

"So, whaddya need the Captain for?" Deuce asked as he continued down the hallway leading to the armory.

"We got assigned to the 76th, we were ordered to report to Captain Krest and General Skitarr. " said one of the Shinies.

Deuce chuckled to himself and let out a long whistle. "The Captain is a great soldier and an even greater man, you'll be in good hands. The General on the other hand..."

"What's about the General?" asked the Shiny closest to Deuce.

"Let's just say that she's not warmed up to clones yet." Deuce sighed.

They entered the armory and found Captain Krest and Quartermaster Flak sitting at a table painting Krest's armor. Krest looked up from his helmet and stood up.

"Deuce, how's it looking?" Krest said holding up his repaired and newly painted helmet. The helmet had olive-green stripes going down the center with a maroon slash going down the left side where the shrapnel cut through signifying his injured eye.

"Yeah, good to see you too," Deuce said wryly before flashing a thumbs-up. "Look's good, you do the welding work yourself?"

Krest nodded proudly. "Mhm, I still got it."

Deuce then motioned over to the Shinies who were still standing patiently behind him. "I've got some Shinies here that say they've been unassigned to us."

Krest looked the Shinies over and stood up, straightening himself into his usual authoritative demeanor. "Welcome to the company, troopers. Unfortunately, you've caught me while on medical leave. You just missed the fighting," Krest pointed to his eye and gave a faint grin before returning to his usual frown. I'm Captain Krest, you may address me as Captain or Sir, I'm you're new C.O. so listen up. As of now we're staying put until we get new orders but, for now, Deuce here will show you around and introduce you to the rest of the men."

Deuce turned around and nodded to the Shinies, you heard the Captain, follow me, I'll introduce you guys to your new battle buddies."

Shellshock and Fodder

"Okay, keep your stance nice and wide but not too wide, about shoulder's length should be good." Instructed Shellshock, patting his hands on his thighs. "All your strength will be in your legs, remember that."

"Right-" Fodder nodded attentively, mimicking Shellshock's stance. "This good?"

"You're a natural kid!" exclaimed Shellshock walking over to his Z-6 which was sitting on top of a crate of ammunition and picked it up. "So, you ready to try a live-fire exercise?"

"Now? H-here?" Fodder asked nervously.

"Of course!" Shellshock smiled brightly handing the cannon over to Fodder. "Not only does practice make perfect! But perfect practice makes perfect! And who better to provide perfect instruction than yours truly!"

Fodder took the Z-6 and nearly stumbled from the weight. "Woah, you lug this thing around?"

"You get used to the weight." Shellshock shrugged, "Now try it! And remember, keep your arms sturdy as well."

Fodder nodded, and turned towards the battle droid corpses Shellshock set up as targets and got into a stance. Leveling the hefty Z-6 and making sure to keep his arms sturdy, Fodder took a breath and activated the cannon's barrels winding them up before squeezing the trigger. The barrels spun faster before the weapon opened fire. The recoil caught Fodder off-guard and caused him to stumble back, Fodder let go of the trigger and nearly fell, causing Shellshock to stifle a laugh.

"What's so funny." Fodder asked, getting ticked off with Shellshock a bit.

"Nothing, nothing," Shellshock composed himself. "Should've warned you about the kick."

"Yeah, you should have." Fodder sighed, "Look, maybe running around with this...siege cannon isn't the path for me."

Shellshock walked up to Fodder and placed a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon kid, don't sell yourself short. Don't you wanna spite all Deuce and the others who said you were good for nothing but cannon fodder?"

"Weren't you doing the same?" Fodder pointed out.

"Exactly why you should follow through with this!" Shellshock retorted. "Don't you want a better name than Fodder?"

Fodder thought to himself before nodding determinedly. "Right, let's do this!"

"That's my boy!" Shellshock laughed triumphantly, stepping back away from Fodder.

Fodder got back into a stance and leveled the weapon again. Then he spun-up the barrels before squeezing the trigger. The weapon immediately kicked back but this time Fodder was ready and stood strong.

"There we go, kid!" Fodder exclaimed proudly. "Control that thing!"

Fodder nodded and controlled the continuous stream of blaster fire, aiming it towards the targets as the bolts collided with the targets one after another. Fodder was determined to wrest control of this beast. Every session of teasing, hazing, and mockery came back to him as he squeezed the trigger tighter. He went into tunnel vision and his only objective was to destroy what was in front of him and that he did as Fodder realized that he was no longer firing. The target in front of him was almost completely destroyed. He then noticed Shellshock beside him patting his back happily. "Look at you kid! A natural droid killer!"

"Thanks." Fodder said breathlessly, dropping the Z-6 to the ground. "How come I ran outta heat so fast?"

Shellshock picked his cannon back up and placed it onto a crate and shrugged. "Yeah, you kinda gotta keep track of your shots you got about 300 per cartridge. But, most of the time you'll be shortening your leads so you won't be firing it continuously too often. Plus I gave you a near-empty cartridge."

"I see." Fodder said, stretching his arms.

"So, whaddya say? You wanna head down to the armory and pick one up for yourself?" Shellshock asked.

"Let's do it!" Fodder nodded excitedly.

"Here you go, kid!" Flak grunted as he lifted up a brand new Z-6 up onto the counter.

Fodder ran his hands over the brand new weapon and grinned.

"Ct number?" Flak asked typing on a computer.

"Ct-one-seven-three-five." Fodder replied.

"One-seven-three-five," Flak repeated typing his number into the computer. "You're all set trooper, I just need your old weapon and I'll have you marked as a support gunner like Shellshock here, and for added measure, we'll say I trained ya, it's better than saying Shellshock did."

"Thank you, sir," Fodder said, handing Flak his old DC-15A and taking the Z-6 from the counter.

"So kid, now that you're no longer a rookie, whaddya want your new name to be?" Shellshock questioned.

Fodder turned to Shellshock and thought to himself. "You know, I gave it a lot of thought and I think I'll keep Fodder. No sense in changing a perfectly good name, even if it's not so true."

"Well, then Fodder, whaddya say we go and meet the new Shinies in our unit and give 'em a good 'ol 76th welcome?"

Fodder lifted his new weapon onto his shoulder and smiled, "I'd love nothing more!"

Skitarr

"Your recent behavior is...troubling to say the least," said Master Kenobi as he took a seat across from Linorra. After her outburst in the infirmary, Kenobi took her to a room he and Skywalker used to meditate. It was dark and quiet which meant there were no distractions. "I understand that this is your first assignment on a massive, active battlefield such as Christophsis but I think this environment has taken a toll on you."

Linorra looked up at Kenobi in confusion. "W-what? But I've only been here a day or two!"

"Which is exactly why this behavior is troubling," Kenobi stated plainly. "As a Jedi, you must not let your emotions take over you as emotions can lead you-"

"To the dark side," Linorra said quietly. Her lip began to tremble, as she spoke. "It's just...I want to be a great general, I want to show the council that I'm a capable soldier and that I can defend our republic."

Kenobi walked over to Linorra and sat down next to her. "I don't believe that's the root of your behavior."

Linorra didn't look up from the ground. Tears began to well up in her eyes as her memories came flooding back in. Her voice began to tremble as she spoke. "I just...all those years he never saw me as more than dirt that he tracked on his shoe."

"Who?" Kenobi prodded.

"Master Belisarius…" tears were now streaming down Linorra's cheeks. She choked up as all the terrible years she spent under her master's boot came to surface. "He always said he never wanted a Padawan. He made sure I knew that every day...he used to tell me the other padawans were lucky to get such gifted masters while I was lucky to even be assigned a master."

Kenobi wrapped an arm around her, the pain that he saw in her was a pain he knew all too well. "Master Belisarius was a disgrace to the order and it was no surprise when he was ejected from the order. But you are your own person, you're not your master."

"For so long I wanted him to just treat me as an equal, as a person." Linorra wiped her face. "But to him, I was just a nuisance."

"And, how do you think those men feel? I listened to how you spoke to them and I heard about your actions out in the field. Those men want to be treated as equals just like you did all those years ago. I understand you need to feel like you have a sense of control but treating your men like mindless droids and then punishing them for defending themselves is not the Jedi way." Kenobi explained. "Do you know who shared those same emotions? The same desire for control?"

Linorra wiped the tears from her face. "Who?"

"Anakin," Kenobi revealed. "He grew up a slave and when he came to the temple he felt like he needed to control everything around him since as a child, all control was stripped from him. But he learned to not let that desire control him and he learned to move on from his past, and although he does some questionable things he is no doubt a better person."

Linorra nodded. "Thank you, Master Kenobi. I will work to change myself for the better."

"That is good." Kenobi stood up and walked towards the door. "I believe you have the will to change. Remember you must not let your emotions affect your decisions."

"I won't Master," Linorra said, standing up and bowing to him.

As Kenobi left Linorra freshened up and went to find the Captain.

As Linorra walked down the long corridor leading to the armory she could feel the passing gazes of troopers as they walked by. There was no doubt that nearly every trooper on-base heard of her behavior and were wary of her. She eventually reached the armory and walked in, finding Krest standing with his arms outstretched as a trooper with a cybernetic arm helping him adjust his armor. It seemed that Krest had repainted his armor and fixed his helmet.

Krest's eyes drew to Linorra and they immediately narrowed making her nervous.

"General…" he said, no doubt clenching his jaw.

The trooper who was adjusting Krest's armor stood up and looked at the two before awkwardly making his way to the door. "I'll let you sort this out, Captain."

Krest crossed his arms and glared at her with the same fury that she looked upon him with before. "So, you still planning on court-martialing me and my men?"

Linorra took a deep breath and used all her will to look the soldier in the eye. "Captain...I owe you an apology to you and your men. I acted out of line an-"

"Kinda like how you accused my men of acting?" Krest interjected. His jaw shifted as he glared her down with good reason too, her actions warranted disciplinary action themselves. "A simple apology isn't going to reverse all of your misdeeds. Let's run down the list, shall we? First, you disregard the lives of my men and even scold our medic for trying to do his job, even going so far as to suggest we leave a wounded trooper behind. You doubt the abilities of my men. And worst of all you left me and two other troopers to die stating that the mission was more important and when the very men whose lives you disregarded went on their own to rescue me you threaten to PERSONALLY court-martial them for insubordination!"

Linorra's head hung lower and lower as Krest ran down the list. Looking back Linorra saw her Master's old behavior in her actions. "I'm sorry Captain, please give me a chance to regain your trust."

Krest scowled at her ready to continue chewing her out when but seeing her vulnerable like this, did something to him, deep inside. Krest took a deep breath and continued. "Your actions are unforgivable and as far as I go I'll never forgive you for what you did. I have half a mind to request a transfer of command to a new general and having you submitted for disciplinary action. However…"

Linorra's head perked up at his last word, looking at him with a hint of hope. "It's been long enough that I and the men have served without a Jedi General leading us and I'd rather not have to try and request a new General. You aren't forgiven but this can be your first step."

Linorra stood up straight smiling at him and about ready to break down in gratitude. Her smile was unnerving to Krest however, seeing as how during their time together she hardly showed any emotion other than anger. "Thank you, Captain, I will try my hardest to regain you and the men's trust. And I promise to change myself and my behavior."

"We'll see…" Krest grumbled as he walked out of the armory, leaving Linorra alone in the room.

(A/N:wooooh this one was a doozy! However, I wanted to have a chapter where we get a better look into everyone outside of combat. I hope all of you enjoyed this kind of chapter because I'm thinking of making this kind of chapter reoccurring. If you guys want more of these let me know! On another note 1200 views holy hell! I honestly did not think this many people would read this let alone enjoy it. I love reading everyone's kind words and the feedback I've gotten and I hope I can continue to entertain you guys for a long time!)


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